


I. Shards

by Aster_Writes_Here



Series: Shards, A Warframe Fan Anthology [1]
Category: Warframe
Genre: F/M, Gen, Grineer - Freeform, One-Sided Attraction, are you into ocs and trying to expand the Warframe lore slightly???, ending is bittersweet, yeah this one is just ocs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 13:13:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aster_Writes_Here/pseuds/Aster_Writes_Here
Summary: Raum is a ex-Grineer Lancer who was deployed on the Plains of Eidolon. Having defected to help the City of Cetus, he struggles to fit into a society that has very good reason not to trust Grineer. However, is it possible for him to find love and acceptance among the Ostrons?





	I. Shards

Raum’s first rebirth took place trampled deep in the wet mud of the Plains of Eidolon, one broken and prematurely aged body having reached its limit just outside of the gates.  
It had been a long trek across the haunted plains, completely unarmed, even his armor removed, hiding from those who used to be his comrades. His worn heart had nearly given out at the shrieks of the monsters that roamed the plains at night. 

Perhaps he looked just pathetic enough that the scouting party of Ostrons that emerged from the gate took pity on him. To them he had croaked out his message, warning them of the plans he had overheard of the City's destruction.  
Perhaps the information he had was outdated, maybe even already known, but his sincerity had at least earned him a temporary home in Cetus, even if he was mistrusted.  
The Unum allowed any and all to enter Cetus, as long as they were unarmed. Even Grineer were allowed, even as they actively worked to destroy the community.  
So Raum’s life in Cetus began.  
-  
Sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains. Raum sat up on the bed, placing his face in his hands, a dull ache in his hip and back calling him back to bed. He stubbornly got dressed anyway, putting on borrowed garments. The Cetus style of clothes was so different from what he knew as a Grineer, almost feeling naked in the light cloth and wrappings.  
Imra was a widow who had been kind enough to temporarily give shelter to Raum.  
“I have space in my home, and it has been quite lonely.” She had said, taking his calloused hand. “Despite what the Grineer did to my husband, I hold no grudges against this one.”  
Despite her words, he still felt the shiver that ran down his spine when she said this, and the familiar sense of crushing guilt and shame. The same feeling he felt in the market. The Ostrons were a friendly people, but he understood their hesitation to associate with a Grineer.  
Whenever he traveled to the market, people seemed wary. Konzu in particular watched him like a hawk. Any of the gleaming Warframes would take interest in his comings and goings, making him break out in a cold sweat. Eventually he stopped going.  
He was grateful for her hospitality but unsure of how to show it, so Raum had began to follow Imra with her daily work. The first few times he had watched in wonder as she and other Ostrons harvested the meat from the tower in their balloons, and slowly lowered it to the carvers below. Imra and her team took machetes to the pinkish white meat, cutting it away from the fine ivory it grew from.  
Much like the cloned slaves that the Grineer came from, the Orokin tower was a living creation made by the Orokin to serve them. Raum was unaware of this history and connection as he watched, and today was handed a machete by Imra. She smiled at him, braiding back her grey streaked hair. Today, Raum learned how to harvest the meat provided by the Unum.  
\--  
The mystery of where the meat the Ostrons ate was solved. Raum was not disturbed by its origins. What the grineer ate was much worse. Eating dinner with a friend, in a small, but homey kitchen after helping to cook the meal was a new experience that Raum enjoyed greatly.

“Thank you, the meat tastes even better after helping!” Raum grins crookedly at Imra.  
He tried to help her with cooking, but his few forays into trying to cook on the plains was very limited compared to the traditions Imra had learned from her foremothers and fathers. Raum was willing to learn, however, and helped her chop the meat from the tower and the vegetables from the plains.  
“I had good help, didn’t I?” She says, smiling warmly at him. Something about Imra’s smile brings a strange warm feeling to Raum’s chest, and he looks down, slight color coming into his sunken cheeks.  
“Have a good night, Surah.” She calls, as she heads to her room. Raum stares at his finished bowl of soup, unsure how to deal with these new emotions.  
\--  
Raum dreams of being a human. He dreams of having a face that only wrinkled and spotted from age, not genetics from gone sour. He imagines a childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. He would live in Cetus, selling wares to off-worlders and helping harvest the Tower’s bounty. He would have a beautiful wife-or handsome husband and have at least three children. He would make friends with everyone, even Konzu and the Tenno.  
He would not have a failing body and ugly face. He would not have committed atrocities in the names of two wicked Queens he had never met. He would live past fifty. Maybe longer.  
\--  
He slowly dipped a brush in the powder he purchased in the market, gazing into the mirror at the tired ex-Lancer staring back. He traces a calloused finger over the “Grineer rash” that creeps across his cheeks and forehead and begins to brush powder over the marks to conceal it.  
He spreads on some red pigment to make his cheeks have a healthy flush, picturing what he would look like as a healthy human. Raum eventually brushes the concealer over his entire face to try and hide the yellow of jaundice.  
He sits back from the mirror. The result is artificial, caked on. He desperately tries to hide his blue lips with a stroke of red pigment.  
“Raum?” Imra says from behind him. Raum jolts, knocking over the jar of power, causing a small tan explosion, cursing himself for forgetting to close the door. She stares at his face, confused.  
“What were you trying to do?” She asked. Raum searches her face, only seeing worry.  
“I…” he looked down, feeling ridiculous. “Wanted to look human, that’s all.” He mumbled, looking down. Imra frowned.  
“You can’t change who you are, Raum.” She says softly, taking a cloth and wiping gently at his face.  
“I just…want the others to accept me.” He manages out. She smiles sadly.  
“You expect them to believe that the Unum turned you into a human overnight? No, you have to accept yourself as who you are. Maybe take the day off from the harvesting tomorrow. You need some time to think.”  
What Raum could not bring himself to say was that he hated who he was. Imra was right. He would never be human.  
\--  
Love. During his short break Raum became a scholar in love. He poured over old romance novels he found in Imra’s bookshelves and borrowed from others. He had finally realized that feeling he felt around Imra, but he had to fully understand it.  
He thought about her lined face, the creases around her eyes when she smiled, her grey streaked hair.  
Finally, after three days of study and preparation, Raum was ready. He used his saved up money to purchase formal Ostron clothing, to the disbelief of the seller that a Grineer would want such a thing, and has scrubbed himself raw and drenched himself with sweet smelling spray after overhearing from the market about the “Grineer Stench”.  
He drew a comb uselessly through the wiry stubble that was slowly growing on his head, and prepared flowers that he had snuck out on the plains to carefully cut and arrange. He was not sure what roses were exactly, but the lovely blue flowers he had would do. He hoped that twenty was a dozen.  
This, according to the books, was the proper human courtship ritual.  
\--  
“Raum? Is there some special occasion?” Imra said, surprised by being greeted by a well-dressed, very strongly scented, scrubbed pink Grineer standing outside her house. She was still stained from work, the light smell of the Unum’s Ichor on her. Raum fidgeted with the flowers, trying to muster his courage.  
“Imra…I…” he managed out, then paused, squeezing his eyes shut. “Imra, I love you.”  
Imra stared at him, shocked as he held out the flowers, sweating. She took them.  
And then dropped them casually to the ground.  
Raum stared in shock, going cold all over. Imra looked at him with pity, taking his limp hands.  
“I’m sorry, Raum. I cannot love you. I can give you shelter, I can befriend you, but you still have the same face, the same voice, and the same evil blood as the men who killed my husband.”  
Raum was silent, looking down. Imra continued.  
“Every time I would kiss you, embrace you, I would only see the men who attacked an innocent man who only wanted to mine the plains.”  
“I…I understand. I only want you to be happy.” Raum managed out. His throat felt like it was swelling, strangling him.  
“We can stay here.” Imra said, as Raum pulled his hands away. “We can still be friends.”  
“We could.”  
\--  
That night, Raum took another trek across the plains. The fine garments that he had purchased shredded from the harsh vegetation. Maybe he would wander until finding another independent settlement. He would not subject Imra to deal with his identical appearance to her husband’s killers.  
He thought over the cruelties he had committed. Maybe Imra’s husband had been one of them. He prayed that he would also die on the plains, like he deserved.  
Maybe he would die of hunger or thirst. There was nowhere for him to go.  
One mistake in an ocean of copies. A mistake doomed to suffer.  
The searchlights blinded him as he stumbled into an encampment. Harsh words were shouted in the dark, guns pointed at his head and chest. Raum put his hands up, accepting his fate.  
\-----  
“I’m glad the Tenno stepped in when they did, but they could have helped sooner. We had to practically glue this guy back together.” It was a high-pitched woman’s voice.  
“I can’t believe this guy survived that. Especially at his age.” Said a low voice. “He was wearing tusk armor, Hek must have wanted an example and had him dressed up like his squad.”  
His eye weakly cracked open, seeing a bright white clinic room. A woman, a human-no, a Grineer now that he could see her eyes rushed to his side. “Rathka! He’s awake!”  
Raum’s second rebirth was in a small clinic in a relay far from the Plains he once lived. There, he would finally find belonging, and joy that he could not find back on Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> What's with the title? I've been working on a series of small backstories for my Warfram ocs and went with 'Shards" because it sounds similar to Warframe's Reflection's comic.  
> Anyway, I'd be surprised if anyone read this.  
> Who are the characters at the end? Chee and Rathka, two tubemen medics in the Steel Meridian.  
> Might continue with some of Raum's life in the Steel Meridian.


End file.
